AP US HISTORY READING LIST
You can read a book and do a book critique each six weeks. You may read 3
books for the first semester from the colonial period to 1877. The second semester
will be comprised of the books pertaining to the time period after 1877. The book
critique will be due at the end of the fifth week of each six weeks. Each book
critique that you do will earn extra credit points for the six weeks average.
COLONIAL PERIOD TO 1877
Addams, Jane Twenty Years at Hull House
Ambrose, Stephen Undaunted Courage
America
Axtell, James: The Invasion Within-The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North
Blassingame, John: The Slave Community
Boyer, Paul Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft
Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage
Cronin, William Changes in the Land
Dangerfield, George: The Era of Good Feelings
De Tocqueville, Alexis Democracy in America
DePauw, Linda Grant Remember the Ladies: Women in America, 1720-1815
Edmund, Morgan The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop
Edmunds, R. David The Shawnee Prophet
Ehle, John Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation
Eisenhower, John S.D. So Far from God: The US War with Mexico
Elkins, Stanley Slavery-A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life
Ellis, Joseph The Founding Brothers
Fast, Howard April Morning
Fehrenbacher, Don The Slaveholding Republic
Foote, Shelby The Civil War trilogy- Three volumes
Forbes, Esther Paul Revere and the World He lived in
Freeman, Joanne Affairs of Honor
Gaustad, Edwin The Great Awakening in New England
Genovese, Eugene Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves Made
Gilpin, Drew Mothers of Invention
Gross, Robert The Minutemen and Their World
Hatthaway, Herman How the North Won
Jacobs, Harriet Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Jakes, John The Rebels
Karlsen, Carol The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New
England
Labaree, Benjamin The Boston Tea Party
Marshall, Peter The Light and the Glory
McCullough, David John Adams
McPherson, James Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
McPherson, James Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Michener, James Chesapeake
Michener, James Legacy
Morison, Samuel E. Admiral of the Ocean: A Life of Christopher Columbus
Oates, Stephen With Malice Toward None-A Life of Abraham Lincoln
Paludan, Phillip A People’s Contest
Potter, David The Impending Crisis 1848-1861
Roberts, Harvey A Few Bloody Noses
Shaara, Jeff Gods and Generals
Shaara, Jeff The Last Full Measure
Shaara, Michael Killer Angels
Sklar, Katherine Catherine Beecher: A Study in American Domesticity
Smiley, Jane All-True Travels and Adventures of Lide Newton
Sneden, Robert Eye of the Storm
Stampp, Kenneth: The Peculiar Institution
Stowe, Harriet Beecher Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Ulrich, Thatcher Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in
Northern New England 1650-1750
Weinberg, Albert: Manifest Destiny
Wiley, Bell Irvin Life of Billy Yank
Wiley, Bell Irvin Life of Johnny Reb
Woodward, C. Vann: The Strange Career of Jim Crow
Young, Alfred The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
1877 TO Present
Allen, Frederick Only Yesterday
Allen, Frederick Since Yesterday
Ambrose, Stephen Band of Brothers
Ambrose, Stephen D-day
Ambrose, Stephen Nothing Like it in the World: The Building of the
Transcontinental Railroad
Ambrose, Stephen The Victor
Beals, Melba Pattillo Warriors Don’t Cry
Bell, Thomas Out of This Furnace: A Novel of Immigrant Labor in America
Brown, Dee Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Caputo, Philip A Rumor of War
Cather, Willa My Antonia
Chafe, William A History of Our Time
DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folks
Griffin, John Howard Black Like Me
Hemingway, Ernest For Whom The Bell Tolls
Herring, George America’s Longest War, The United States in Vietnam
Hersey, John Hiroshima
Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes were Watching God
Larson, Eric Devil in the White City
Leckie, Robert Delivered From Evil
Lewis, Sinclair Elmer Gantry
McCullough, David Brave Companions
McCullough, David Johnstown Flood
McCullough, David Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal
1870-1914
McCullough, David The Great Bridge
McCullough, David Truman
McElvaine, Robert The Great Depression
Military Frontier
Morris, Edmund Theodore Rex
Riis, Jacob How the Other Half Lives
Royster, Jacqueline Jones Southern Horrors and other Writings: The AntiLynching Campaign of Ida Wells, 1892-1900
Shute, Nevil On the Beach
Sinclair, Upton The Jungle
Sitkoff, Harvard The Struggle for Black Equality
Steinbeck, John Grapes of Wrath
Terkels, Studs Hard Times
Trumbo, Dalton Johnny Got his Gun
Utley Robert Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western
Warren, Robert Penn All the King’s Men
Woodward C. Vann The Strange Career of Jim Crow
Worster, Donald Dust Bowl
Wouk, Herman War and Remembrance
Wouk, Herman Winds of War
BOOK CRITIQUE RUBRIC
The book critique should be written in standard essay form, be about 3 pages in length,
font size 12, Times New Roman, have a cover page and use proper grammar. I may
decide to share your critiques with your classmates for their enlightenment. Contents
must include:
1.
The Story
20 pts
What is the story, in brief? Do not spend too much time on this topic
2. Background of book
 What is the historical and geographical setting
 What historical timer period does this book deal with
20 pts
3. Background of the author
20 pts.

Who is the person writing the book?

Why did the author choose to write the book

Is there a definite viewpoint or bias expressed?

If the book is a fictional account, does it cover an historical event,
a true story, an eyewitness or autobiographical account, a work of fiction
based on general/historical information.

If the book is non fiction, how does the author present the event or
time period
4. Application
20 pts.
 What do you think can be learned in terms of U.S. History and the culture
of this nation?
 Was it written in the time period of which it deals with?
5. Evaluation
20 pts.

What parts of the book or quotation from the book will be indelibly
etched on your mind?

What human connections did the book help to make for you with
other places and peoples, and other times?

What makes this story part of history in the U.S.? What makes it a
classic?
Each of the above questions should be discussed in at least a paragraph. Try not to be
vague. Use specific parts of the book to explain your points and give a complete, specific
and detailed picture of the historical context. In other words, don’t just say “Western US
during the 1800s. Give definite dates, places, people, and events.
Due date: Fifth week of each six weeks. No late assignments accepted